Starring:
Date: December 2, 2014
Summary:
A wrong is righted, and though the wounds left behind it are fresh, Rise and Kynshin choose to move past it.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Rekindling"
Mountain River Trail [Land of Lightning]
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The trail here is an old and dried up riverbed. The path was rerouted northwards, into the gorge that forms the Raiun falls, leaving behind a nearly smooth, and very wide trail down the mountains towards the water below. It is strewn with rocks, but most have been smoothed by the raging river that used to ravage the path, and it makes for easy walking.
To the north lays the bridge crossing the gorge, the gorge which contains the routed waters of the river. Further south, the riverbed continues downwards, almost straight down the mountain side, towards the base of the mountain far, far below.
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Rise couldn't help but giggle at first at the note Kaido left behind, but as the realization sunk in that the Inuzuka meant what he said, not another second was wasted. After roughly two days of searching for the pair with two promises always looming overhead, the petite shinobi gave up the chase, gathered back up most of her wits, then wrote down and sent out a message for Kynshin with the hope it would reach the swordsman before Kaido and Bandit did. All she had the patience for was the time for the meet, knowing Kynshin would remember the where.
The first place they got to know each other…
Everything was wrong to her. Grey-black clouds filled the sky, promising rain at any moment. Raiun Falls — though distant from cliff — sounded louder than normal. She /still/ felt unprepared. There was no telling if her missive even reached Kynshin, or even /if/ he still cared to see her despite what his note implied days before. And to top it all off, Rise couldn't stop pacing! "Alright, Rise.. Todays the day.. Just… Just sit still, take a breathe, and… and…." She trails off from there into dark mutterings and absent hand rubbing.
Kynshin had spoken to Kaido, Bandit wasn't as forth coming. But still the swordsman wanted to see Rise and so when the scroll came, he smiled. Having remembered this place, Kynshin made his way there, he is very nervous and the weather isn't very conducive. But he didn't care, nerves be damned, he wanted his girlfriend back and he would do what he could to at least get her to hear him. He regretted not doing more before she left.
Upon getting to the spot, Kynshin looked around. Butterflies flutter in his stomach, but still he was here and as he moves through the area, he looks for Rise and when he sees her, he feels those butterflies but still he walks over to her, "Hello Ri-chan." he says softly.
She neither slows down or stop at first. Her thoughts were too jumbled up. But eventually, his words do sink in, startling the girl belatedly. She whips around fast enough to give most viewers whiplash just from seeing her movements. From the moment her surprised mismatched eyes meet Kynshin nervous yet warm dark eyes, Rise cheeks burn and tongue ties itself in knots. Despite the latter she tries twice to speak, only for not a word to leave her mouth and grow more flushed from frustration.
'Enough already!' She screamed in her head before closing her eyes and take a deep lungful of air. "Kyn-kun." Rise finally replies softly as her fingers went back to dancing amongst themselves. She dared not say more. Not until she was more certain of what her rights would be…
He blinks when she spins around on him, he is startled even himself. He stops in his tracks and waited. He watches her, but he can't help the smile that shows up on his face just seeing her. But still his worry and nerves are getting to him. When she looks into his eyes, he finds himself looking back into hers. He allows himself to clam down a bit, and when Rise speak his name, he blinks and steps just a little closer to her, "Yes?" he asks as he looks to her. His heart is a flutter, he tries to think of what he wants to say to her, but not this time, he wanted her to speak this time, he did a lot of talking before, it's her turn.
She flinches at the question and quickly casts her gaze towards the earth. What now? The whole point of their meeting was for them to talk. Right? And yet, she couldn't get a word out without either rushing it and blending them together, or sputtering outright nosense. At least that is what she feared.
A nearly inaudible sigh escapes her lips. Then through sheer force of will, Rise forced herself to look back up at Kynshin, and force her hands apart so that stayed at her side. It isn't long after that they began playing at the fringes of her pockets instead. "I… I don't think I even have the right to say anything to you after what I did, or even know what to say, but…. but right now I don't care." Rise flashes a small, weak smile. "I just — I needed to talk to you, to… say what I should've the first time, to explain, and… apologize."
Kynshin starts to worry a bit more now as she isn't speaking to him. He wanted to talk to her, wanted to find out why she left him and hurt him. He thinks for a moment, he didn't care he just wants to listen and if this is going to work, they have to talk. Honestly his feelings, his emotions are running amok right now, because all he wants to do is run over and take her in his arms and hold her, kiss her deeply. BUt he had to hold back, he wanted to hear her this time, wanted to let her explain to him why she did so.
Though after the long silence, Kynshin rubs the back of his head, normally when he is nervous or just out of habit. Still when she finally begins to speak to him, "Ok." he says as he looks to her and offers a small caring smile to her. "Please, just know that I've missed you and I just want you back Ri-chan." he says to her.
Tears began to surface in the corner of her eyes, but are blinked away before they can fall. Despite her 'lone warrior' mentality, she wanted to run over and cling to him with everything she had. If not for the cynical part of her having spoken up, she might've done just that without a second thought. But instead, she finally allowed her whole body to relax, if only for a few moments. "You don't…" Rise shakes her head softly before straightening out again. She couldn't afford to let her spirits get any higher. Not just yet.
"I'm sorry for being such a coward… I thought… I don't know what I was thinking except.. I wanted to protect you. Y-you and everyone else." Rise averted her gaze to the ground at first, then turned them towards cliffside. "… How do you tell someone that you think your going mad? How do you burden the people you love with that, knowing… that there's nothing they can do about it." her words come out sounding empty, and when she looked back at Kynshin, it is with a cracking mask of apathy in place. "I wanted you to hate in case… 'cus I figured after it finally happened and after I went too far, it wouldn't hurt as much."
When Rise begin to speak his attention is fully on her, and as he looks to her his emotions do calm and become subjective as he takes in her words. "Let me judge that." he says when she tells him that he wouldn't. Still when Rise starts to apologize to him and explane that she didn't know how to tell him what she needed or how to tell him. Still he waited wanted to listen to her and see what more, and as she divolges more to him. Quirking his head to the side, Kynshin moves towards her and takes her hand as she speaks to him. "Honestly you wouldnt know until you spoke to that person." he says to her.
Pausing for a moment, Kynshin takes a deep breath as he watches her. "Ri-chan….for you to come out now and tell me this, I'm actually happy." he says to her. "I don't know how hard it was for you to tell me this now, but anything could've happend to you. And honestly I don't give my heart to just anyone. So when you broke up with me, it hurt." he says as he looks her in the eyes. "Ri-chan, when you have people in your life that you love and they love you, you can always come to them and let them know. If you were going mad or felt it, I wanted to know." he states. "Because honestly if you are or were, just one person may be the one to pull you back if you couldn't and there is nothing in the world that I wouldn't do to bring you back."
He steps closer to her, "I was mad, but I wouldn't hate you unless you've done something more to me. You didn't. Also I saw your face and yoru words didn't match." he explains. "I need you and want you back in my life. And stop going half-cocked, i'm here." he says to her.
She listened, but every step of the way her heart and mind warred with both themselves and each other. The battle made her want to scream, and yet she fought down the urge whenever it seemed close to peaking; though her efforts left her trembling. At times Rise found herself clenching her hands or gritting her teeth as well. More measures of restraint to keep her from looking away, or revealing too much of how she felt at the given moment besides worn or surprised.
Ultimately, Rise neither makes a move to retreat or let her eyes falter as Kynshin spoke. Her legs would've refused her even if she wanted to do so. So many 'what ifs' began to float in mind, and were reflected in her eyes and the tears she began to shed. "Why… how…?" She croaked after a moment of silence. She was lost and uncertain. Rise didn't — couldn't understand where Kynshin's confidence was coming from. Was he mad too? Hope flared to life in her eyes at the thought, only to quickly dim seconds later. "… How?" Rise repeats as her gaze fell to the ground.
Kynshin looks at her for a long moment and his arms come around her waist and pulls her to him, "Because I loved you the moment I met you." he smiles. "I knew it would be a challenge, but I saw you. I saw who you are, you try to do everything on your own, but then you started to worry about me. You began to rely on me, and I knew than that you cared, and when you told me you loved me, I knew I had the right girl." he says. "Thats why Ri-chan." he states simply. "And I know you still love me which is why we are here now talking." he states. He shakes his head, "I did want to know why, why you wanted to push me away, why you felt you needed to instaed of asking for my help." he sighs a little.
"You annoyed the firewood out of me and lit me off, but I never stopped loving you." he states. "I checked the places we always went to." Reaching up to caress her cheek, "Ri-chan, you mean a lot to me. And I still want to be with you if you still want to be with me." he tells her.
Rise doesn't resist being pulled into the embrace. Even if she possessed the strength to at the moment, the odds of her using it to ward off Kynshin were next to none after being away from him for so long. Though while she yearned to do the opposite — to embrace Kynshin in turn without a thought to any consequence — her arms were like lead at her sides. All Rise can do is listen at the time. Listen, and try desperately to fight down her rogue emotions for fear of being overpowered by them. An old defense mechanism she still couldn't shake.
She cannot help flinching at his mentioning being annoyed at her, but eventually settled back into leaning against him once more. But not once does she look up to meet his eyes as he spoke, though rather that too is out of fear or something else is hard to tell until his caress prompted her to do so. Even then, her expression is a little guard, hinting only at a struggle between disbelief and relief. "I-…" She flinches at the hoarseness to her voice, but quickly clears it to try again. "I do…. But… I need you to make me a promise."
Kynshin looks to Rise as she is in his arms, watching her for a long moment and taking note that she wasn't loking to him. He knew this was going to be a bit of a sticky issue, but they needed to talk and they needed to have this time with one another. When she asks him to promise her something, he quirks a brow, "Ok what is it" he asks as he looks to her bringing his arms down around her waist and wathing her.
Rise kicked herself mentally for adding a stipulation, realizing belatedly that their relationship — any half-way decent relationship shouldn't involve deals being struck first. The sour taste the belated thought reflected in her gaze for a moment or two before being shaken off, both literally and figuratively. She pauses to take a deep calming breath, then looked into Kynshin's eyes radiating nothing but complete seriousness. "If I lose it — and I mean really lose it, and you know I'm far too gone… End it." She states in a tone that brokered no argument.
Kynshin didn't know why they needed to make a deal. But here he is, and as Kynshin was waiting on Rise, he does keep his eyes on hers. ANd as she asks him to end her if she ever loses it, Kynshin nods his head, "But promise me that you will fight it, nad do your do driest to keep keep form losin it?" he asks.
Her sigh of relief catches in her throat at Kynshin's word. After a few hesitant moment Rise smiles weakly and reaches up to clasp Kynshin's cheeks, answering Kynshin with a fleeting kiss after drawing him down closer to her level. "Since when have I ever done otherwise?" She teases lightly. "I'll keep fighting it, Kyn-kun." 'For however long it takes' She says and adds in thought, her smile growing in strength from conviction.
Kynsin hugs Rise tight as he hugs her close to him. When she kisses him, he kisses her back just as deeply. Lettinger all this emotions come through in that single kiss. "Just remember, I'm here for you no matter what and that I love you Ri-chan." he smiles as he holds her and kisses her back.
Before they closed from her embracing the moment, her eyes said it all. She believed him with every fiber of her being, and loved him all the more. It left her vulnerable, less tenative, and yet despite being self-aware of this she rejected all instinctive impulses to distance herself. While her arms sought to wrap around behind his neck, Rise nipped at Kynshin's lips, teasing them carelessly until either the light taste of blood or Kynshin withdrawing from the sharp pain of her pressing down just a little too hard with those shark teeth of hers. Regardless of which, Rise leans away, loosening her hold as a nervous, quiet string of apologies tumble from her lips.
Kynshin doens't back away, he's missed those little nips from those shark teeth. He actually chuckles a bit when she does it and a few owws. Yeah twinkle toes he still is. Kynshin shakes his head, "No more apoligize, I'm just glad to have you back, I've missed you terribly Ri-chan." he says to her as he looks her in the eyes and hugs her tight against him. "So you haven't left the village again have you?" he asks curiously.
Rise grew more flushed at his words, but gave a small nod nonetheless. "Mm.. I-I've missed you too, Ky-kyn-kun." She replies nervously. Afterwards Rise keeps glancing between his gaze and everywhere else, growing even more nervous. She hadn't lied earlier, but being so close — "Huh?… Ah… no… But may have to soon, Kyn-kun." She admits quietly. "At least, I hope to — have to soon."
Kyn isn't letting her get too far away from him. He watches her as she looks about then back at him. "Whats up?" he asks gently. he doesn't want ot scare her but he does want her to start being honest with him. He doesn't press, but with her telling him not yet means she plans on leaving soon.
Rise regarded Kynshin for an lengthy moment before wearily shaking her head. "I don't know if its even connected or not, or even really /where/ to start still. .. But I want to try looking into my past again, 'cus after the last time I flipped out, Otou-ba-er… Otou-san noticed that the seal changed again." She says, then bows her head. The weight of her own worries were resurfacing once more. Thoughtlessly, she clinged a little tightly to Kynshin, renewing her strength through him. "I'm tired of having this inflammable thing floating over my head!"
Kynshin feels Rise clinging to him tightly, but he doesn't flinch or back away from her. He holds her closer to him and as he listens he nods his head to her. "I know the value of family and if your wanting to figure yours out, then do it." he says gently but determined. "If I can help, let me know, even if I'm with you as support I will do just that." he says. He knows he will need to get permission and with teh Silence out there, it will be hard. But this is for Rise, he loves her and will do what he can. "We just have to becareful. This whole Silence thing has everyone on edge and I will need to get clearance to leave, but I will."
Between her record and usefulness, Rise wasn't sure which would be the deciding factor on rather or not she would be able to leave Kumogakure at the moment. Her doubts grew after Kynshin mentions the silence, but she bears the burden without expression or word. "I appreciate that Kynshin, honestly, but we both know in all likelihood that Hiei ain't gonna allow two of his best shinobi to run off with how things our now; and especially not this early into his new reign as Raikage." She says with a sardonic grin.
Kynshin listnes and nods his head, "Yeah, your right. FOr now we train and just reconnect, and once this crisis is over." he pauses for a moment, "We go look for your family." he says to her as he looks to Rise for a long moment. "With that aside, all I want to do is take you home nad just be with you." he tells her.
As the grin fell away, Rise mood dropped along with it. SHe's only half-heartedly listening afterwards at first, but quickly refocus when Kynshin pauses. The look she gives is apologetic until Kynshin throws her off guard by bringing up her family again. Rise regards Kynshin in turn, wondering openly at the sudden change. What follows leave her flushed again, and unable to speak for a few moments. "And by that, you mean…?" Rise asks coyly as soon as her nerves return to her.
Kynshin grins and nods his head, "Yup." he laughs and picks Rise up and spins her around. "Granted your oging to probably get mad at me." he says. "I've not kept up on my training and so I'm pretty behind, which kinda stinks." he frowns. "But I'm already back in gear, just needed to leave Kumo to handle my family affairs." he pauses on this, "My grandparents passed Ri-chan." he frowns as he looks at her. They were the ones Rise met and his grandfather said he hoped her and him would make it to marriage that one time at dinner. "We took them home back to the Lands of Iron, the samurai lands and buried them there. We stayed fo ra bit then came back."
Rise only has time enough to look surprise before being swept up into the air with a sharp gasp. What air remained in her lungs left as giggle fit that continued shortly after being set down. Since being picked up she stayed clinging to Kynshin, though after being spun about it had more to do with steadying herself. "Only kinda?" She piped up, teasing him a little to brighten his spirits once more. Her mischevious smile falters and fades altogether following Kynshin's announcement. The concept of family was still something distorted for the girl. Even so, her meeting with them and now the news given left an ache in her chest that couldn't be ignored. Just imaginging how Kynshin felt made it allt he worse. Without thinking or asking for more, Rise hugged Kynshin again.
With that bit of caring Kynshin buries his face into the crook of her neck and holds Rise to him. He doesn't cry, but just feeling Rise to him, and knowing she was there now was all that mattered to him. He didn't want to bring her down, not now, but he had wanted to take her with him, but she wasn't around when he had to leave and he tried to hold on longer. Still though, his body shakes alittle, but he manages. "Sorry." he apologizes to her. "I didn't mean to spring that on you."
Rise squeezes him lightly after feeling the embrace return. She didn't expect him to cry, nor would she try to force or coax any tears out of him. If he hadn't already, she trusted him to do so when he was good and ready. Even if that moment didn't entail her, because of — "Don't be, Kyn-kun. The moment could've been better, but…" She smiles weakly. "I'm.. glad you did."
Nodding his head and leaning back. "Though I'm still wanting to take you home. I've missed you." he smiles a bit. Feeling better, "Would you come with me?" Kynshin asks as he looks to her.
Relief feels her eyes when Kynshin doesn't push. "I want to, but… I can't. Tou-san has been expecting me back for the past few days, and I… kind owe him an apology." 'Among other things' She replies with a half-smile. In immediate attempt at speaking on Kynshin part is quickly silenced by her lips smashing into his own in a brief but apologetic kiss. Grudgingly, Rise slips out of Kynshin's grasp, or tries to at least, and would be on her way with a smile on her lips unless given pause. Well, aside from the one she has of her own accord to look back at Kynshin one last time.
Kynshin frowns when Rise tells him she can't, not right now. But before he can say anything her lips claim his and he kisses her back long and deep. A kkiss that has been long passed overdue. Once she breaks it, and tells him what she has to do, he nods his head not asking her anything. He does give her the address to where he lives now, hi sown place, and he stretches. "Come back soon alright."
